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For those of you who haven't seen "Rejected," let me take a moment to describe it to you.  The animated short begins with a brief story of the films creator, Don Hertzfeldt as he is asked to do a series of advertisements for the Family Learning Channel.  It is explained that every single cartoon that he drew was outright rejected by the Family Learning Channel for reasons which can be seen in the cartoon as you watch it.  This hysterical short doesn't have any narrative structure, no antagonist or protagonist, and really no story of any kind, at all.  The video proceeds as a series of short commericals for both the Family Learning Channel and later as advertisements for products that Hertzfeldt was asked to draw advertisements for.  

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The invisible fourth wall in stories allows the audience to be merely a fly on the wall, watching the drama unfold without taking part in it. Metalepsis is when that wall is broken, as is frequently done on television, in movies, on stage, etc. for comedic effect. The characters may break that barrier momentarily to comment on something supposedly outside the fabula, like in that Family Guy clip we watched in class yesterday of Stewie commenting on the 24 ad at the bottom of the screen. But what happens when there’s a narrator? Does the narrator exist on the characters’ side of the wall or the audience’s? I would guess that since the narrator mainly interacts with the audience, he would be outside the wall with them. If that’s the case though, then what happens when the characters in the story begin to interact with the narrator as well? Into The Woods is a prime example of this when the characters within the story are looking for someone to sacrifice to the giant and suddenly notice the narrator speaking to the audience from the side of the stage.

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